Do you want to change?
Now, don’t get me wrong, some people are very happy in their jobs and live their whole life doing what they do never wanting or needing to change. I know I was. I always wanted to be a beauty therapist. From the age of 13 when I had to choose options at school, I knew what I wanted to do and it wasn’t easy to get in to. There were no local colleges and you had to literally fight for your place.
This was way before day spas and retreats. Aromatherapy was an alternative medicine and the word holistic wasn’t around at all. How things have changed. In my 30 years in the business I have seen so many trends come and go. I have seen ionic detox foot spas, sunbeds, body wraps, and G5 massage. I have seen the world before gel nails and even before french manicures! Oh how I show my age!
Age is a funny thing.
With age, and having been in the industry for such a long time, I have moved with my heart and taken a sideways step. I still continue to treat clients in my therapy rooms on the Somerset Levels, but I haven’t done a manicure or pedicure for 13 years. That was one of the main reasons for moving here. I wanted to concentrate on skin care, facials, LaStone and aromatherapy while teaching Reiki workshops.
I had already started painting.
If you have been following this blog and newsletters, you will know that I was nudged to start painting a couple of years ago after a 20 year break, coinciding with my journey through the menopause. Having treatments at The Scarlet at Mawgan Porth in Cornwall, with a very intuitive therapist – Lorena – made me realise that there was something else I need to be doing with my time here on the planet. I no longer had a monthly ‘out’ of energy due to the lack of periods, so I needed one. I joked was this why ‘old people take up knitting?’ To some extent, yes!!
I had been suffering with hip pain for several years and no amount of massage, acupuncture, hydration, supplements, or yoga made any difference. Until I found my out! I found the outlet. A creative outlet for the energy that was building in my pelvis and hips, and as if by magic, my hip pain just disappeared! I re-kindled my love of art, but this time using the energy I had been working with for the past few years.
Energy Art.
Creating contemporary abstract energy art filled with Reiki energy and vibrant colour seemed so right. Healing through art. Not really art to help my own healing – but it fixed my hips! – but art to fill peoples’ homes and bring joy and healing to them and the space the piece occupies. No one would want to hang a piece of art that made then feel sad, so I paint to make people happy. An extension of the treatments I do, and a way to use my skills as I get older.
Atlantis Rising and Gateway to Atlantis – These can be seen and purchased at The Spa at The Scarlet.
Those who know me well have noticed the change in direction has been a fast one! I held my debut exhibition last year, and have the One Year On Exhibition next month. During the past year I have work exhibited at The Kitchen at the Wharf in Langport, and I am VERY EXCITED to say that I now have pieces at in the spa at The Scarlet and their sister hotel – Bedruthan – (You can see some of the smaller Softer Collection in their reception) – That’s where it all began!
Crystals embedded within the work.
I have also been fortunate to be able to paint a powerful piece of work for the meditation room at the Scarlet – packed with gold leaf and crystals – this feels the way forward with all the new pieces that I am producing. I have always used crystals in my work as a therapist, so once again, I am just taking a sideways step, and using the skills I have developed through the years – listening to my intuition and going with it.
In the Meditation Room – Packed with gold leaf, quartz grains, tanzanite, herkimer diamonds, rose quartz and topaz.
Changes don’t mean the end!
I’ll just reiterate for those who keep asking – no, I am not stopping work and I am not retiring from therapies. I guess I am just doing two jobs – for now! Maybe in the future, the art side will take over completely. Who knows?
In the meantime, I’m literally going with it! Going with the flow, to coin an often over used phrase! I’m so happy to have found my mojo, and this new mojo can continue to help others.
I’m nearly 52!
FIFTY TWO years on the planet, and I’ve always had a job that I love. If you don’t have one, there is always time to change. As you age, you begin to realise how short your life in physical form really is. Why waste any more of it doing things you really don’t like?
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